The company’s competent executive branch, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd and a group of Finnish private investors (incl. Rauno Puolimatka’s Rausanne Oy) have purchased the shares London & Regional Properties (LRP), a British-owned real estate investment company, possessed in the Holiday Club Resorts vacation ownership company. LRP became the chief owner of Holiday Club Resorts Oy in 2005. The closing of the deal marks the return of the company into the hands of financially sound and well-established Finnish institutions and private investors. The price of the acquisition will not be disclosed.
Holiday Club Resorts Oy is Finland’s leading producer of pleasure travel services and one of Europe’s largest vacation ownership companies. Altogether, Holiday Club has approximately 40,000 weekly time-share owners, more than 1,000 of which are companies and organizations. Holiday Club produces and sells luxurious holiday adventures to its customers by building quality destinations for pleasure travel as well as a diverse range of holiday services to accompany them. The company has more than 1,100 holiday homes in 16 holiday destinations in Finland, Sweden (Åre), Öland (Ekerum), Russia (St Petersburg), and Spain (Calahonda). Holiday Club Resorts Oy also runs the Holiday Club Spa Hotel business in Åre, Sweden.
Holiday Club’s customers include consumers, companies and organizations. Making new holiday destination investments, expanding sales to companies and developing products and services associated with travel and leisure-time living are ways in which the company expands its operations. Holiday Club has just recently opened a sales location at the Flamingo entertainment complex in the Greater Helsinki area. A special feature of the new location is a model apartment that has been built inside the complex. The company intends to continue its growth by investing in new destinations in Himos and Saimaa.
Vesa Tengman, CEO for Holiday Club Resorts Oy, states, “With regard to the current economic situation, news of the acquisition is highly welcome. The participation of Finland’s largest pension insurance company and the state-owned Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, as well as the faith private investors have in the development of the pleasure travel business, is especially gratifying. The new structure of ownership improves our opportunities to expand our business and to make future investments. At the moment, we are increasing the number of weekly timeshares in Kuusamo, Katinkulta and Salla.”
Director Risto Autio of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company explains, “Holiday Club is a well-known and highly appreciated brand in Finland. It is a good example of a rapidly growing service-providing company.”
Antti Kummu, director of investments at Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, comments, “The acquisition carried out with private investors returned Holiday Club Resorts Oy into the hands of the Finns. The company’s weekly timeshare investments have a significant impact on the development of tourist areas and regional employment.” He adds, “Not only does the company have a strong brand, but it also has an extremely experienced executive branch."
Teuvo Salminen (acting CEO at Pöyry Oy) has been nominated chairperson for the board of directors. The members of the board include Kari Österlund (Senior Advisor), Rauno Puolimatka (CEO at Rausanne Oy)
and Mika Kiljunen (CEO at Kaleva Travel Invest).
Holiday Club Resorts Oy is Finland’s leading producer of pleasure travel services and one of Europe’s largest vacation ownership companies. Holiday Club currently runs 20 holiday destinations, four of which are outside Finland’s borders: Åre and Ekerum in Sweden, Holiday Club St Petersburg, which was just recently completed, and Calahonda on the southern coast of Spain. New destinations will be built in Finland, Sweden and Russia in upcoming years.
The company was established in 1986, and its chief area of business involves weekly timeshare ownership. In 2007, the Group’s turnover was 60.5 million euros, and the Holiday Club chain employed 380 people.
Holiday Club belongs to the world-leading RCI timeshare vacation exchange network. The network provides shareholders with opportunities to spend their vacation in nearly 4,000 top destinations in one-hundred countries. Several world-wide hotel chains, such as Hilton, Hyatt, Ramada and Four Seasons, also belong to the RCI timeshare vacation exchange network. In 2006, RCI carried out approximately 2 million exchanges between the network’s 3.5 million member families.
www.hcresorts.com
Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company is Finland’s largest pension insurance company in the private sector. In 2007, the company’s premium income was 3.1 billion euros. The company is responsible for the pension insurance of more than 780,000 people. In 2008, the company paid pensions amounting to 3.1 billion euros, and with its 27 billion euros in investment assets, it is Finland’s largest private investor. www.varma.fi
Finnish Industry Investment Ltd is a state-owned capital investment company. It invests the assets gathered from selling government property into expanding Finnish businesses and internationalization. Together with private investors, the company invests in growing businesses directly and through capital investment funds, with emphasis on all fields of business. Capital investments are needed to fund the expansion of target companies, to spin-off projects, to significant industrial investments, and business and company restructuring. The total amount of the company’s investments is approximately 470 million euros.www.teollisuussijoitus.fi
Fri 10.10.2008